The invention relates to an apparatus for collecting empty bottles and making an accounting of them, having an intake zone for feeding single bottles of any arbitrary size into a common receptacle, the bottom of which can be changed from an initial, upper position down to a final, lower position in accordance with the number of bottles that have been placed in the receptacle.
Apparatuses of this kind are intended to promote the re-use of bottles and thus to help save valuable raw materials.
Known apparatuses of this kind have certain disadvantages, however, especially because they require considerable space and are time-consuming to use.
For example, an apparatus according to German laid-open application DE-OS 1 574575 has a receptacle with a bottom that can be lowered, and each time a bottle is placed in the receptacle the bottom is lowered by a specific, predetermined amount. The distance between the bottles in the receptacle and the opening through which the bottles are introduced can become so great, however, that there is a danger of breakage if further bottles are deposited. Emptying the receptacle, which is mounted in a fixed manner in the apparatus, is as complicated as it is time-consuming.